The present invention relates to a spacing element for spacing an inner pipe from a protective pipe outwardly surrounding said inner pipe.
Spacing elements for spacing pipes from outer protective pipes have been proposed in the art. Such spacing elements have a plurality of segments of a synthetic plastic material which are placed on an outer surface of the inner pipe and each has a plurality of projections abutting against an inner surface of the outer pipe and having slide surfaces. The segments of the known spacing elements are connected with one another by metallic bolts. The bolts generally are not brought in contact with either the outer protective pipe or with the inner pipe extending through the latter, so that an electrical path is not established between the pipe and the protective pipe in order to assure unobjectionable corrosion protection. However, when the spacing element is accidentally broken, a danger will occur that the metallic connecting bolts will establish the electrical path between the pipe and the protective pipe and thereby will break cathodic protection of the former.